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Biographical Sketch Of General Beauregard
Biographical Sketch Of General Beauregard
The greatest boon that can be bestowed upon a people is the adequate setting forth of the history of their illustrious men. The achievements of these, duly recorded, stand forth as beaconlights to guide coming generations; and as a just appreciation of greatness indicates worth in a people, and points to future advancement on their part, so surely does indifference to merited renown denote popular degeneracy and decay. We therefore welcome every honestly meant publication concerning the struggle
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Military Operations Of General Beauregard
Military Operations Of General Beauregard
> While in charge of the military defences of Louisiana, and of the construction of the New Orleans custom-house, in the fall of 1860, General Beauregard, then brevet Major of United States Engineers, received the following order from Washington: By direction of the President, Brevet Major Peter G. T. Beauregard, Corps of Engineers, is appointed superintendent of the Military Academy, and will relieve the present superintendent at the close of the approaching semi-annual examination of cadets
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II.
II.
> Seven miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and looking out upon it to the southeast, stands the city of Charleston, built at the confluence of the Ashley and Cooper rivers. It is on a tongue of the mainland, consisting of gray sandy soil, and extends southward, tapering in width from Two miles to half a mile. Here the Ashley turns from the west and sweeps around, to mingle its waters with those of the Cooper, whose principal current passes close along the east or sea-front of the city. A marshy m
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III.
III.
> The Confederate States Commissioners— Messrs. John Forsyth of Alabama, M. J. Crawford of Georgia, and A. B. Roman of Louisiana— with proposals from their government, were sent to Washington after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln as President. They were instructed To make to the government of the United States overtures for the opening of negotiations, assuring that government that the President, Congress, and people of the Confederate States earnestly desire a peaceful solution of these grea
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IV.
IV.
> On assuming command of Charleston, General Beauregard made no material change in the distribution and location of the forces he found there, and maintained the organization previously adopted by the South Carolina State authorities. Brigadier-General James Simons was therefore left in command of Morris Island, all the batteries of which had been placed under the immediate charge of Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. De Saussure of the Second Artillery Battalion. He was assisted, at the Trapier Batter
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V.
V.
> What with the burning of its quarters, the injury inflicted on its walls, and the shattered condition of its parade and parapets, where dismounted guns, broken carriages and chassis, fragments of shell and shot, lay scattered on all sides— Fort Sumter, when our troops marched into it, presented a picture of desolation and ruin. One could well understand, upon viewing it then, how impossible it would have been for Major Anderson and his command to hold out more than a few hours longer. Suffo
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VI.
VI.
> Not until Fort Sumter had surrendered to the South Carolina troops under General Beauregard; not until Mr. Lincoln, misapprehending the attitude of those Southern States still nominally belonging to the Union, had made his requisition on them for their quota of men to aid in suppressing the Rebellion, did Virginia, faithful to her old-time traditions, openly proclaim her adhesion to the Southern cause, and assume her rightful place among the seceded States. Hers was a disinterested step; On
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VII.
VII.
> The Confederate troops in Northern Virginia, east of the grand chain of The Alleghanies, now formed a series of detached commands, stretching from northwest to southeast respectively, under General Joseph E. Johnston, at Harper's Ferry, General Beauregard, at Manassas, and General Holmes, at Aquia Creek; each outnumbered by confronting forces, excepting General Holmes's command, whose position on the lower Potomac was taken only to prevent a possible landing of the enemy at that point. The
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VIII.
VIII.
> A day or Two after sending to the President the communication given at the end of the preceding chapter, General Beauregard, still hoping to obtain the government's assent to the concentration of our forces, in view of the impending offensive movement of the enemy, despatched to Richmond an aide-de-camp, Colonel John S. Preston, of South Carolina, a gentleman of ability and much personal weight, with special instructions to urge the absolute and immediate necessity of adopting his plan of o
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IX.
IX.
> After the check received at Bull Run, on July 18th, the Federal army remained inactive throughout the 19th and 20th, except in efforts to reconnoitre and determine the Confederate position and the best point for penetrating or turning it. This prolonged delay, though somewhat unaccountable, under the circumstances, was, certainly, of great advantage to General Beauregard. It allowed General Holmes to reach the theatre of operations in time, with 1265 infantry, 6 pieces of Light artillery, a
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X.
X.
> Towards 11 P. M., on the day of the battle, while President Davis, at General Beauregard's headquarters, was engaged in writing the despatch to General Cooper given in the preceding chapter, information was received, through Captain Hill, of General Johnston's forces, that the enemy, at Centreville, was in a complete state of demoralization, and in full flight towards Washington. Upon learning this, President Davis, with great animation, urged the necessity of an immediate pursuit by Genera
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XI.
XI.
> On the 8th of August, at General Beauregard's suggestion, Colonel Evans was ordered to move his brigade to Leesburg, and assume command of all the forces in Loudon County, the object being to protect that region against Federal incursions, about which numerous complaints were made. It was about that time that General Beauregard resolved to throw his own forces forward. He hoped, by an advance, to be able more easily to take the offensive, or draw on a battle, while the enemy was yet demoral
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XII.
XII.
> While the organization of the army into divisions was being effected, General Beauregard, from close scrutiny of the Northern journals, had come to the conclusion that an early attack was meditated against his lines. To avoid all possibility of surprise, and deceive the enemy about his real strength, he caused rockets to be distributed to his command, with minute instructions as to their use. Very shortly afterwards, as night had just set in, Captain E. P. Alexander, whose zeal and activity
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XIII.
XIII.
> By General Orders No. 15, received October 25th, from the War Department, the armies in Northern and Eastern Virginia were brought into combined relation; a system which had been urgently recommended by General Beauregard in the early part of June. The Potomac district, between the Blue Ridge and the Potomac, to the north bank of Powells River, was assigned to the command of General Beauregard. On its right and rear, the Aquia District, between the southern bank of Powells River, the Potoma
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XIV.
XIV.
> Various are the comments and animadversions that have been made upon the conduct of the Manassas campaign, and the Confederate victory resulting from it. The clearest and most satisfactory evidence exists with regard to what then occurred. The public, informed of the truth, would have naturally accepted it; but public opinion has been studiously kept in a state of uncertainty by the propounding of many insidious questions which may not here be passed without being set at rest. What has been
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XV.
XV.
> Towards the end of January, 1862, General Beauregard received a visit, at his headquarters at Centreville, from Colonel Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, a member of the Military Committee of the Confederate Congress. He informed General Beauregard that he had been deputed by his committee, and the Representatives in Congress of the Mississippi Valley States generally, to confer with him upon a plan then under consideration at Richmond, and to urge him to give it his consent. This plan consisted
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XVI.
XVI.
> After receiving, at Corinth, the despatches announcing the fall of Fort Donelson, with the capture of most of its garrison, General Beauregard telegraphed General Johnston to know whether he had issued any direct orders for the troops in General Polk's district. The following answer, forwarded to Columbus, in anticipation of General Beauregard's arrival there, was received by him on the 17th, at Jackson. It is given in full: Your despatch of 16th received. You must do as your judgment dicta
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XVII.
XVII.
> It will be remembered that One of the conditions of General Beauregard's departure for the Mississippi Valley was, that he should be furnished with a certain number of officers from the Army of the Potomac, should their services be needed, some of them to be promoted to be brigadier-generals and others to be major-generals. Early in February a list of their names was left with the War Department by Colonel Thomas Jordan, General Beauregard's Adjutant and Chief of Staff. On the 20th of that
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XVIII.
XVIII.
> Looking to the evacuation of Columbus and the concentration of troops at and around Corinth, General Beauregard had ordered, early in March, the immediate collection of the requisite quantity of grain and provisions, at Union City, Humboldt, Jackson, and Henderson, in West Tennessee, and at Corinth, Grand Junction, and Iuka, in Mississippi, with the establishment of chief depots of supplies of all kinds, at Columbus, Mississippi, and Grenada. At this latter place he had endeavored to establ
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XIX.
XIX.
> General Johnston reached Corinth on the night of the 22d of March, in advance of his army, which followed closely after him, portions arriving daily up to the 27th. General Hardee took position in the vicinity, with a body of about Eight thousand men; while the remainder, under General Crittenden— some Five thousand strong, exclusive of cavalry— were halted at Beirnsville and Iuka, on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. A shade of sadness, if not of despondency, rested upon General Johnsto
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XX.
XX.
> As the Federal troops lay encamped, Sherman's and Prentiss's divisions stretched from the Owl Creek bridge, on the Purdy road, to the ford of Lick Creek, on the Shore road, from Pittsburg to Hamburg. Sherman's 1st brigade, under Colonel McDowell, was on the extreme right; his 4th, under Colonel Buckland, west of and resting on the Shiloh meeting-house; his 3d, under Colonel Hildebrand, east of and resting also on the Shiloh meetinghouse. Next came Prentiss's division, and, at a very wide in
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XXI.
XXI.
> The night of the 6th of April, as has been already stated, was so dark and stormy that it was found impossible properly to collect and organize all the commands. The fighting, moreover, had been protracted even after dusk, on certain parts of the field, before General Beauregard's orders to arrest the conflict could be communicated and carried out. At about Half-past 5 o'clock, on the morning of the 7th, the skirmish-firing on our right, in an easterly direction, towards the Tennessee River
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XXII.
XXII.
> I. Generals Johnston and Beauregard have both been censured for not moving sooner and more rapidly from Corinth, to attack the Federals at Pittsburg Landing, so as to anticipate General Buell's junction with General Grant. The causes of this delay, as already given in the preceding chapters, sufficiently absolve the Two Confederate commanders from any just blame. The reader will pardon us for briefly reverting to them. General Beauregard, it will be remembered, only arrived at Jackson, Tenn
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XXIII.
XXIII.
> It must not be forgotten that General Beauregard, in his conference with General Polk, a few days after his arrival at Jackson, Tennessee, suggested and even urged the evacuation of Columbus at the earliest moment practicable; that is to say, as soon as Madrid Bend, Island No.10, and New Madrid could be fortified and sufficiently prepared for temporary occupation; the object being to give time for the completion of the work of armament then going on at Fort Pillow, Fifty-nine miles above Me
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XXIV.
XXIV.
> After the Battle of Shiloh the Confederate troops resumed their former positions, except the forces under General Breckinridge, composing the Rear guard, which for several days remained at Mickey's house, General Force, in his book, From Fort Henry to Corinth, P. 182, says: . . . Breckinridge remained at Mickey's Three days, guarding the rear, and by the end of the week Beauregard's army was again in Corinth. The battle sobered both armies. some Three or Four miles from the battlefield, unt
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XXV.
XXV.
> General Beauregard arrived at Tupelo on the 7th of June. The main body of the army reached there on the 9th. The position had been previously reconnoitred, and no difficulty was encountered in the selection of the grounds whereon the different corps were to be encamped. Many orders and telegrams, forwarded and received from different parts, far and near, show the watchful supervision exercised by General Beauregard to complete the movement he had thus far successfully accomplished. Although
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Appendices To Vol. I. Appendix To Chapter III.
Appendices To Vol. I. Appendix To Chapter III.
Major,— The Secretary of War directs that Special Orders No. 238, of Nov. 8th, 1860, appointing you to the post of Superintendent of the Military Academy, be revoked, and that you return to your former station at New Orleans. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Special Order No. 19. Special Order No. 238, Adjutant-General's Office, of November, 1860, appointing Bvt. Major Peter G. T. Beauregard, Captain Corps of Engineers, to be the Superintendent of the Military Academy, is hereby revoked
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Military Operations Of General Beauregard
Military Operations Of General Beauregard
> When it was learned in Richmond that General Beauregard had reported for duty a strong effort was made to obtain for him a command suitable to his rank. A personal friend of his, The Hon. C. J. Villere, Member of Congress from Louisiana, and brother-in-law to General Beauregard. on September 1st, telegraphed him as follows: Would you prefer the Trans-Mississippi to Charleston? His characteristic reply was: Have no preference to express. Will go wherever ordered. Do for the best. The War Dep
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XXVII.
XXVII.
> From Richmond, on the 7th of October, the following telegram was sent to General Beauregard: Your command this day extended, in order to embrace South Carolina, Georgia, and that part of Florida east of the Appalachicola River. The camps of instruction for conscripts, in the several States, are under special control of the Secretary of War. This was not welcome news, for if it implied increase of territorial authority, it indicated no prospect of corresponding numerical strength in the Depa
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XXVIII.
XXVIII.
> General Beauregard, having accomplished the object of his visit to Savannah, on the 30th of October returned to Charleston, where he found Captain D. B. Harris waiting for him. His pleasure and relief were great indeed, for he knew that this trusted officer would now relieve him of the immediate supervision of the works to be remodelled and constructed in many portions of his extensive command. It cannot be expected that we shall pass in review and comment upon all the official orders emana
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XXIX.
XXIX.
> Christmas week and the Holidays had come, were gone, and the Federal attack on Charleston had not taken place. The rumors circulated were generally well-founded, but the preparations necessary for the accomplishment of so formidable a project consumed more time than had been anticipated. The delay was of advantage to General Beauregard, as it gave him additional time for the completion of his various arrangements. Foreseeing the eventual necessity of a rapid concentration of troops by rail
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XXX.
XXX.
> Being still apprehensive that the enemy's monitors might take a position in Main ship channel, as near the shore as prudence would admit, and attempt to batter down the southeast angle and gorge-wall of Fort Sumter— for that was its most vulnerable part— General Beauregard, on the 4th of April, ordered the Commander of the First Military District to add a 10-inch columbiad, or a 42-pounder rifled gun, to the Cummings's Point Battery, the object being to keep the Federal ironclads as far off
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XXXI.
XXXI.
> No sooner had the enemy been foiled in his naval attack on Fort Sumter (April 7th) than the depletion of General Beauregard's active forces was begun. Cooke's and Clingman's commands were returned to North Carolina; and, early in May, Two brigades of infantry, numbering more than 5000 men, with Two batteries of Light artillery, were sent, by order of the War Department, to reinforce General Joseph E. Johnston at Jackson, Mississippi. Again, on the 10th of May, a telegram was received from t
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XXXII.
XXXII.
> General Beauregard's official report of the defence of Morris Island, from July 10th to September 7th, 1863, contains so full a narrative of this memorable event that it is deemed advisable to insert it here, without alteration or curtailment. This remarkable paper will thus become the chief, if not the exclusive, subject of the present chapter. No pen could more truthfully describe the momentous incidents of that part of the siege of Charleston, and no authority could be of greater weight,
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XXXIII.
XXXIII.
> In order to form a correct opinion of the precise condition of Fort Sumter after the bombardment (of which a description was given in the preceding chapter), based on Colonel Rhett's and the Engineers' reports, the following order, on the 24th of August, was forwarded to Colonel Harris: Colonel,— General Beauregard directs that you proceed immediately to Fort Sumter (together with Colonel Gilmer, if agreeable to him), to confer with Colonel Rhett, his Chief of Artillery, and Lieutenant John
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XXXIV.
XXXIV.
> Without placing implicit faith in the telegram received from Richmond, through Major Norris, Chief of the Signal Corps, wherein an immediate heavy attack upon Charleston was predicted, General Beauregard took every precaution to be prepared for such a contingency. He had a force of Two hundred infantry held in readiness, nightly, at Fort Johnson, to be thrown as a reinforcement into Fort Sumter, and had secured, for that purpose, from Flag-officer Tucker, the services of the, Steamer Juno,
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XXXV.
XXXV.
> General Beauregard reached Weldon, North Carolina, on the 22d of April, 1864; but, contrary to the assurances given him by the War Department, found no orders awaiting him there. He immediately called General Bragg's attention to the fact, and the next day was officially assigned to the command of what was called the Department of North Carolina and Cape Fear, including Virginia south of the James and Appomattox, and all that portion of North Carolina east of the mountains. On the 23d he as
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LXXXV.
LXXXV.
> At 1 o'clock P. M., on May 17th, while General Beauregard was still pursuing Butler's army, Ransom's division was withdrawn from him to Richmond, notwithstanding his request that the order should be suspended. General Whiting's forces had just come up, and were not yet assigned to position. Thus left with about 12,000 men to operate against an enemy not less than 25,000 strong, General Beauregard, after another severe engagement on that day, drove the Federals back behind their intrenchment
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XXXVII.
XXXVII.
> Before entering upon the events which followed the arrival of General Lee's forces at Petersburg it is but fair to pay a passing tribute to the handful of heroes who unflinchingly bore The heat and burden of the Four days of unparalleled fighting which we have just described. The beautiful devotion and patriotism of the women of the beleaguered city, during the whole period of the siege, claim also an honored place in these pages. Equal praise should be meted out to those who never wavered
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XXXVIII.
XXXVIII.
> From the hour of 12 M., on the 18th of June, General Beauregard ceased to be First in command of our forces at and around Petersburg; and, though he continued on that day to direct, to some extent, the movements of the troops, he did so only because General Lee had not yet become sufficiently familiar with the position of our various commands on the new line occupied. Comparative quiet now prevailed in both armies, and Federals as well as Confederates were actively engaged in strengthening
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XXXIX.
XXXIX.
> Some Two weeks after the explosion of the Federal mine and the attempted capture of Petersburg, the enemy, with a view, no doubt, to divert public attention from the inglorious results of That miserable affair, as General Grant is reported to have called it, resorted again to divers operations, within and outside of the limits of his lines of intrenchment. General Hancock, with his own corps, to which were added the 10th and all of Gregg's cavalry, was charged with the First expedition. Thi
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XL.
XL.
> On the 17th of October General Beauregard assumed command of his new Department, and published the following order: In obedience to the orders of the President of the Confederate States I assume command, this day, of the Military Division of the West, east of the Mississippi River, comprising the Department of Tennessee and Georgia, commanded by General J. B. Hood, and the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, commanded by Lieutenant-General Richard Taylor. These officers
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XLI.
XLI.
> The army reached Tuscumbia on the afternoon of the 30th of October, and on that day General Hood received the following communication: General,— General Beauregard desires that you will forward him, for the information of the War Department, a brief summary of the operations of your army from the date of its departure from Jonesboroa, Ga., to the present time; also a concise statement of your plans of future operations, intended for the same office. I am, General, respectfully, your obedien
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XLII.
XLII.
> Before following General Beauregard on his way to Savannah, via Charleston, where he arrived on the evening of December 7th, it may be of interest to mention what he had endeavored to do immediately after the Battle of Franklin, with a view to reinforce General Hood's army upon its entrance into Tennessee. He had cast his eyes towards the Trans-Mississippi Department, then under General E. Kirby Smith, and, with that rapidity of strategic conception so remarkable in him, had formed a plan o
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XLIII.
XLIII.
> Just before the Battle of Nashville, which began on the 15th of December, and ended on the 16th, General Hood expressed the wish that General Beauregard should visit the Army of Tennessee, if he could. See his telegram, in Appendix. This was proof sufficient that matters were not going on satisfactorily in that quarter, for at no previous time had General Hood evinced the least desire to have General Beauregard with him or his army. A few days before the following telegram, in cipher, had a
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XLIV.
XLIV.
> On his arrival at Augusta, General Beauregard was met by Lieutenant-General Hardee, who had been invited to await him there. The object of their conference was to adopt a plan for opposing the probable immediate advance of Sherman from Savannah, Beaufort, the southeastern portion of South Carolina, and the whole extent of the Confederate line, along the Salkehatchie and the Combahee. Major-General D. H. Hill, commanding the Subdistrict of Augusta, and Major-General G. W. Smith, commanding t
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XLV.
XLV.
> The enemy effected the crossing of Broad River during the night of the 16th of February. With our small force of infantry and a few Light batteries, under General Stevenson, aggregating about Three thousand men, and the cavalry, under Generals Wheeler and Butler, some Four thousand men, commanded by General Hampton, we had endeavored, in vain, to impede his progress. The evacuation of Columbia therefore became a necessity, and General Beauregard ordered its execution at daylight on the foll
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XLVI.
XLVI.
> In a preceding chapter (Chapter XLII.) we had occasion to comment upon the threats, indirectly made, by General Sherman in his demand for the surrender of Savannah (December 17th, 1864); and the intention was declared to recur to the matter at the proper time, as evidence of the Federal commander's preconceived purpose in regard to other Southern cities that might eventually fall into his power. The following is the passage: But should I be forced to resort to assault, or to the slower and
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XLVII.
XLVII.
Despatch of the 4th. > On the 3d of March, General Hardee, from Cheraw, S. C., forwarded this telegram to General Johnston: The enemy changed position yesterday, advanced on Chesterfield Courthouse, and crossed Thompson's Creek, above that point, late in the afternoon. I am evacuating Cheraw, and shall move to Rockingham, where I hope to receive your instructions. General Butler thinks Army of Sherman is moving on this place, or on Rockingham. On the next day (4th), from Rockingham, he telegr
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XLVIII.
XLVIII.
> At this stage of the military operations just described the main body of the Federal army, united at Goldsboroa, consisted of its Right wing, under General Howard, aggregating 28,834 men; its Left wing, under General Slocum, aggregating 28,063 men; its centre, under General Schofield, aggregating 26,392 men, exclusive of the artillery, numbering 2443 men, with 91 guns; and the Cavalry division, under General Kilpatrick, with an effective strength of 5659 men; making a grand aggregate of 91,
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